The American Forces Radio and Television service touched a lot of people. Whether talent, support or listeners it touched a lot of us in ways that stateside media could only dream of. This website is unofficial and does not imply any endorsement from AFRTS, the Department of Defense or the United States government.
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Thom Whetston

From 1972-97 I was a radio announcer, mostly in the Northeast. I had the most fun with Armed Forces Radio first in Korea then in Panama. A lot of the time it was spontaneous or improvised and that made for a great learning laboratory. The network DJs, Charlie Tuna, Wolfman, Kris Erik Stevens, Jim Pewter, LaRita Shelby and the rest were so consistent, it was and amazing thing to hear. Then to Massachusetts and WEIM, WKNE, WKBK, WFGL, WMDK, WKBR, WCGY, WSRS, WGAW. Most of them don't exist as anything that resembles a radio station. I'm always ready to trade war stories... Thom Whetston afrts@live.com 612-356-AFRS (612)356-2377

The first time I had even heard the work of Roger Carroll it was the announcing on the Smothers Brothers (Brothers Smothers?) show. Wonderful all the way around..

Roger was an ABC staff announcer who joined the army during the Korean War, he wanted to go to Austria. The Army kept him at McCadden Place, a short commute from home. It was the start of a long relationship. Roger sent us his shows for us to hear again. I'm very grateful.

Monday, June 29, 2015

In 1971 the Marine Corps reserves were doing the recruiting show "Spectrum USA" , an overview of our presidents.

"Spectrum USA" presents glimpses of our Chief Executives - not necessarily as great figures in publice office - but as the real people they were: young men with ideas, students, husbands, working men, soldiers, dreamers.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Charlie's websitehttp://www.charlietuna.com/is a great way to see what's going on with Charlie and is a great source of video and trivia, what I wouldn't have given for something like this for show prep!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Well into the 1980s "Country Music Time" was being recorded in Nashville for the USAF. In the 1984 the hosting duties went to Chief Master Sergeant Chuck Hawsey. On the show, the stars of Nashville would talk about their careers and lives. Quite a gig.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Harry Simons, who was "Your Brother" on AFVN in 1967 and 1968 has some big news:

"Since we last spoke on the phone and online about my AFVN Danang “Your Brother” program, I have some new and exciting AFVN news. Attached is a work in progress mission statement of a Vietnam Veterans Tribute program now in production to air on 1330 AM WEBY Radio Pensacola, Florida. The broadcast will also stream live at http://www.1330weby.com on October 26-30 2015

Sunday, June 14, 2015

In 1970 Roger visited the stations and troops in Germany and did a show from AFN. The network picked this up and ran it worldwide. Helping out out was future Baltimore personality Bob Moke. Bob later did shows for AFRTS. But on a day in 1970...

An oddity is most any radio personality that some sort of a biography is not available for. Even I'm listed under a station I used to work for in Wikipedia. Herman Griffith was working at KGFJ in the early 60s (was Hunter Hancock still there?) and doing a show for AFRTS. The AFRTS show continued into the early 70s. It was great radio, give a listen...

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Joe Allison will now send us to the Country Corner. Joe was a world class writer, producer and jock. He's credited for modernizing country radio. He was with us for about ten years. Here's a 1970 visit.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Crime Classics was a classy CBS show from the early 50s. It was run several times on AFRTS well into the 1970s. Elliott Lewis and a great cast. "New Hampshire, the Tiger and Brad Ferguson" was initially broadcast in 1954. This is from a 1967 reissue.

The History of Rock & Roll first aired on the weekend of February 21–23, 1969 on 93 KHJ Los Angeles, hosted by Robert W. Morgan. It aired for 48 hours and was later syndicated. Later that year, with slight modifications to the script, another version was aired hosted by Humble Harve Miller. The program was then taken to national syndication in the fall of 1969 by parent company RKO General. KHJ repeated this in 12-hour blocks. This version was syndicated throughout the early 1970s, and was sent to stations on large 101⁄2" reels of 1/4" tape, in full-track mono. - wikipedia